Family Strengths Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Family Strengths - Article Example It begins by defining what family strengths are, and goes on to discuss the insights from available research relating to what makes for strong families. The findings from the two surveys that were considered reveal an American population where family strength levels are fairly high. The article notes that such a focus on family strengths is necessary to counteract the dearth of knowledge in this area, owing from the traditional focus on family ills in the literature, to the detriment of serious inquiry on how healthy and strong families work. The findings that family strength levels are healthy for the majority of the American population has implications for the kinds of future related research that may yield fruit regarding how family strengths impact the well-being of children and parents (Moore, Chalk, Scarpa and Vandivere, 2002). B. Response The surveys paint a healthy picture with regard to measures of family strengths in majority of American families. Measures of stability and routine, for instance, and the way they relate to the stability of the children and their developmental progress, are instructive, and believable. The article posits that predictability is good for children, in that they are able to function and grow in an environment where predictability and routine contributes to feelings of safety. Where routines are in place for meals and for doing errands are set, for instance, there is an environment where children develop the ability to control themselves, and to produce life outcomes that are positive. The large majority of homes sharing dinner together on a regular basis, and doing routinary tasks at home likewise regularly, contribute to this environment of predictability and stability. The insight here is that the establishment of such an environment coincides with relatively stable economic and social conditions in the general society, something that I can accept as plausible in the time frames considered for the survey. Those were relat ively prosperous and stable years for the US in general (Moore, Chalk, Scarpa and Vandivere, 2002, pp. 2-3). Part 2- Assessment of Family Strengths, Results B. Family Introduction, Description, Reason for Choice The chosen family is African American, with a household salary estimated at about $200,000 a year, with both parents being professionals, and with two children, one a boy aged 15, and another a girl aged 10. The family owns the home they live in, and the children attend private school near their place of residence. The parents work during the day and come home in time for dinner. The parents are also well-educated and are well-traveled. The reason for the choice is that given the healthy outward arrangements of the family, the family and their strength measures can easily validate or invalidate the assertion of the article relating to family strengths and child behavioral and life outcomes vis a vis the relative stability of the family (Moore, Chalk, Scarpa and Vandivere, 20 02, pp. 2-3). C. Survey Identification The chosen survey is the strengths assessment survey, administered to the chosen family member for this exercise, the 15-year old eldest son. This survey was chosen because an assessment of the strengths of the boy would give an indication of the relative family strengths, from the life outcomes of the eldest son at that